Fighting for their survival

STOCKTON - The Pacific men's volleyball program remains in limbo as its members and coach Joe Wortmann are fighting to survive past 2014.

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By Jagdip Dhillon

recordnet.com

By Jagdip Dhillon

Posted Sep. 8, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By Jagdip Dhillon

Posted Sep. 8, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

STOCKTON - The Pacific men's volleyball program remains in limbo as its members and coach Joe Wortmann are fighting to survive past 2014.

As part of campus-wide budget cuts that are being reallocated for university president Pamela Eibeck's $15 million "Focus on the Future" initiative, athletic director Ted Leland made an initial recommendation of eliminating the program on Aug. 30 to save between 5 percent and 7 percent of his department's budget. Leland has taken part in an open forum on the matter, meeting with the 22 team members and some of their parents in the past week and will have to make a final recommendation to Eibeck by Sept. 20, although it could come as soon as this week.

The players began a petition to keep the program going on Change.org that had more than 6,200 signatures as of Saturday evening. According to university spokeswoman Claudia Morain, Leland, who was not available for comment Friday or Saturday, told the forum Tuesday that he was open to alternative measures.

"We're still working hard to do what we can do," Wortmann said. "I'm very hopeful, but it's going to be in the hands of the president and the board (of regents). I'm hopeful something can happen."

Eibeck will brief the regents after reviewing all of the recommendations and and will announce her final decision during the week of Oct. 7-11. The men's volleyball program was one of three recommended for elimination across campus along with the Rowing Club and the Economic Development office.

Leland said last week Pacific would honor all scholarship commitments the program had remaining. The program is allotted 3.75 scholarships per year, which are divided among the players.

Chris Ender, father of freshman Griffin Ender, was among the parents who met with Leland on Tuesday in what he described as an "emotional, sometimes contentious, but ultimately productive" meeting. Ender said all of the parents have gone through the gamut of emotions in the past week.

"It began as shock, then it moved to rage and then we transitioned to action," Ender said.

Many parents have authored letters to the administration, offering to help and hoping to sway their intentions. Edgardo F. Cartagena, who sent his son, Edgardo A. Cartagena, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to play at Pacific this fall, was among the parents that wrote a letter to Leland.

"We feel betrayed," Edgardo F. Cartagena wrote. "The offer to stay at Pacific and complete his education is much appreciated, but that was not the deal. Edgardo's scholarship is not 100 percent. The portion that is my responsibility is a significant burden that we took because he was developing as a student-athlete, not just a student."

Ender said the parents are willing to aid in fundraising efforts or anything that would help save the program.

Wortmann said he's grateful for all of the support the program has received from the parents, alumni and volleyball coaches and officials from around the country, including Hall of Fame Stanford women's volleyball coach John Dunning, who was the Pacific coach when the program was founded in 1991 as a supplement to the thriving women's team.

Wortmann was an assistant for Dunning and eventually took the men's program from the club level to Division I in 1993.

"It's a sad situation," Dunning said. "Especially because Joe is a friend of mine. I'm sure it's not any easy decision for the administration and, hopefully, something can still be done."